It was Baldrick who carried a bullet with his name on it, arguing that no one else would be able to fire the fateful missile at him. To his mind it was about rigging life's lottery. Cricket should not be a lottery but, even if your name was not Duke, it seemed that every delivery at Edgbaston on Friday carried with it the prospect of instant demise. There was skill in survival, as Mohammad Yousuf has twice demonstrated in this match, but a massive element of luck in survival, too.

When bad light ended play it was Warwickshire with the upper hand. But there was too much happening of an unpredictable nature for much, with the exception of Yousuf, to make pleasant watching. Last night Warwickshire were docked eight points for the state of the Edgbaston wicket.

The first ball of the day turned sharply and bounced steeply to finish the Worcestershire first innings and thereafter players were hit on the gloves and body and occasionally fell foul of deliveries that scuttled malevolently. It is hard to set yourself against such vagaries, to which batsmen departing with knowing grins rather than disappointment was testament.

Later, as Worcestershire embarked on an impossible mission to make 328 to win after Warwickshire declared at 173 for eight, they lost Vikram Solanki to a brutal blow on the back of the head, just behind his left ear, missing his helmet.

Boyd Rankin, excited by the bounce, had tended to bowl too short, which looks spectacular but misses the point of bowling on a bad pitch. The delivery to Solanki was short but not excessively so but the batsman looked to duck. The ball failed to bounce as high as he anticipated and, turning his head, it hit him square. As he lay prone, there were calls for the physio, who arrived at the same time as a rain flurry. Solanki got unsteadily to his feet and, clearly groggy, tottered from the field. Anx-ray revealed only soft tissue damage and, if he scrubs up, he will bat on Saturday. Worcestershire had reached 36 for three by stumps, all three wickets going to Naqaash Tahir, who bowled a more consistent length than Rankin and prospered as a result.

All this took place in front of the ECB pitch inspectors David Hughes and Tony Pigott, who interviewed the groundsman Steve Rouse. But pitches at Edgbaston have been poor this season, with Lancashire spinners making a mockery of their match here, and now with this surface starting dry and cracked. How much this has to do with the relaid outfield and new drainage is not clear but the latter might mean Rouse is yet to find the right moisture balance.

Earlier Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott, England batsmen seeking practice to play out the rustiness of their rest period, were denied that by the conditions, with Bell opting to tee off rather than play an innings and Trott victim to a shocker that climbed from a good length to his throat. Both returned to the dressing room with wry smiles, perhaps in the knowledge they had survived without injury. Instead it was Yousuf who demonstrated that determination and skill, with the ability to play the ball late, could bring its rewards. His 68, ended at mid-on only when he too decided it was time to give it a go, contained 10 fours.